


the curse breaker

by xShieru



Category: One Piece
Genre: Alternate Universe - Dragons, Fantasy, Friendship, Gen, M/M, Minor Violence, Slow Burn, Witch Curses
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-04
Updated: 2017-11-06
Packaged: 2019-01-29 09:41:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 18,782
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12628194
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xShieru/pseuds/xShieru
Summary: Sabo does not remember the exact details of the dragonborn curse. Whenever he tries to recall it, the memory comes up foggy at best. He’s uncertain if it has to do with the shock of, you know, actually being cursed or the fact that he was very young when it happened. Too young to fully comprehend what was going on. Perhaps it’s both.One moment he was a human boy and the next he was a monster.The words “loved one” are the only ones that he remembers.





	1. dragonborn

The spacious caves stretching ahead of Luffy are spooky yet exciting. The dirt and stone branch out together and wind into crisscrossed tunnels, some leading to dead ends, plummeting down into the ground, completely enshrouded in thick darkness. There are more than a few caverns which are barely bigger than rabbit holes – Luffy, despite being a slim child at the age of six, master of slipping through even the tiniest of gaps, would never be able to enter through one of those. A part of him knows that if he _really wanted to_ he could at least try but the bigger part is a little frightened. The thought of ending up in an enclosed space with no way out, surrounded by what could be poisonous snakes, rats, spiders and bats isn’t all too pleasant to think over so for now the young explorer sticks to the wider, passable paths.

He can no longer see the daylight spilling out from the underground cave’s hidden entrance and he belatedly realizes that he doesn't have the slightest idea from which direction he even came from – the path keeps forking out every three steps and Luffy always picks out the most exciting-looking tunnel. His sense of wonder gradually guides him further into the cave. Excitement sparks in his stomach – this is exactly what Luffy adores. Exploring without any maps, without knowing what lies ahead, discovering cool stuff. It’s what makes Luffy tick.

In his giddiness, the child speeds up, torch held high above his head, footsteps echoing. The further he goes, the more the flickering fire grows. There’s an unusual breeze brushing against his face but Luffy decidedly ignores it.

There’s _definitely_ something in there, he can feel it. Perhaps there’s even treasure…! Golden coins, rubies and sapphires, a heavy crown fit for a king and then–

There’s a flash of movement under his legs and Luffy trips over himself, the torch rolling away with a clatter, nearly snuffing out.

“Ow,” he says though it doesn’t hurt _that much_ because he’s managed to land on something soft and uneven rather than dirt. He pats the ground for the torch and accidentally touches the bizarre thing. It lets out a startled squeak and moves from under Luffy’s thin frame, hurriedly waddling out of range.

In the distance, there’s a call of his name followed by rushed, urgent footsteps, but Luffy doesn’t bother replying, holding onto the torch.

The creature backs up into a wall, turning its head from side to side as if looking for a way out and presses its lower half into the stone, tail curled around its front legs. It’s no bigger than a hunting hound and Luffy blinks in confusion, admiring its appearance.

He’s seen a lot of weird creatures lurking in the forests and plains surrounding these areas but he’s yet to see a lizard this peculiar; with blue scales tipped in gold, puffing up around the dragon’s head, nubby horns, and _were those small wings on its back?_

It looks scared as hell so Luffy immediately feels bad for it, scurrying away to put some space between them. It doesn’t seem to be breathing, dark, beady eyes focused on the human child carefully offering a hand, palm-up. “Hello,” Luffy greets with what he hopes to be a comforting grin despite the fact that the lizard most definitely cannot understand him, keeping his tone light. “I won’t hurt you,” he promises when the lizard only stares at his small, callused palm, tail twitching – a reaction to the boy’s words.

They stare each other down, Luffy growing more and more impatient by the second, but eventually the weird creature comes a little closer as though tempted to check out what this human child has to offer. It’s kind of strange that it doesn’t seem to be _too scared_ nor does it show any interest in dashing between the gap of Luffy’s thin legs, eager to get away and disappear into the nearest cavern.

Luffy stands and reaches out a bit too soon. The blue lizard stiffens up at the sudden movement and leans against the wall once more, eyes wide. As if waiting for some strike across the horn-adorned head, a rough yank on its tail. Expecting Luffy to hurt it.

“No, don’t be scared!” the boy amends, sitting back down, palms up to pacify the creature. “I didn’t mean it. You’re really small, too small to be a mean predator. Do you even find anything to eat in here? It’s so dark and stuffy, eugh. Are you from the surface? Did you wander inside like I did?” Luffy continues his one-sided questioning, going for the satchel tied around his shoulder. The lizard shuffles closer, reassured that Luffy’s far too preoccupied at the moment to lash out, rummaging through the satchel’s contents; some water, matches, a knife, fruit. The stuff he wouldn’t even consider bringing on his adventures if it weren’t for his older brother. He fishes out a ripe tangerine, quickly peeling it – he’s a little hungry and it’ll have to do until he gets back. Tonight, they’re having fried meat on a bone – a rare delicacy in their family. Dadan’s last trip to the capital went supremely well.

Enticed by the juicy, rich scent, the lizard plops down before Luffy, tail swishing and twitching. Eyes focused on the fruit. “Do you live here?” Luffy continues and pops a piece into his mouth, barely chewing. The lizard’s flattened nose twitches. Luffy doesn’t miss it, looking down at the pile of peels and then back at the fruit. “You want some, I can tell. I usually don’t share food with animals, just so you know. I don’t like sharing _my_ food! But I guess I can give you a few pieces. Only coz you’re so thin!”

The lizard perks up and nibbles on the tangerine that Luffy presents. Fascinated by the delicate eating, Luffy throws his next one into the air, curious to see what’ll happen next. The lizard scurries backwards, eyes following the orange fruit and nabs it mid-air, landing with a few light jumps, wings spread out.

Luffy’s goddamn delighted. “You can do tricks! That’s so cool!” he laughs and then decides to sacrifice the rest of his tangerine to the entertaining lizard. It reminds Luffy of an eager puppy, excited for treats and ready to please. The last piece is left lying on top of the boy’s open palm for the lizard to take and once it does, it doesn’t dash away, snorting warm air into Luffy’s hand in thanks.

The boy reaches out to pet the poofy frill-like scales surrounding its head, stroking over the rubbery texture. “Who’s a good lizard?” Luffy coos and scratches the blue dog-like creature on its lanky neck, “you are!”

It closes its dark eyes in reply, visibly pleased by the attention, soft-spiked tail curling and uncurling on the ground.

Luffy wants to pick it up but knows that his new friend will bail immediately – feeding one animal isn’t enough to tame it. And, surprisingly, Luffy doesn’t want it to scurry away and leave him behind.

Still, the inevitable happens once the echoing footsteps come closer and his distressed older brother enters through one of the multiple gaps lining the tunnel. His face is flushed a deep red and he looks equal parts relieved and annoyed, the torch tightly held in one hand nearly burned out. “Luffy, why didn’t you answer me!? I was beginning to think that you might’ve fallen down some hole…” Ace trails off, finally noticing the sizeable… _creature_ sitting in front of Luffy’s bent legs. The question dies in his mouth right when Luffy looks up with the brightest grin plastered on his face and says “Ace, check out this cool lizard that I found.”

Immediately, Ace speed walks to his idiot younger brother, scaring the most-definitely-not-a-lizard. Instead of running away, _it_  crawls into Luffy’s arms, glowering at the newcomer from under Luffy’s bent elbow. “Luffy, put that down! You don’t even know where it came from.”

The lizard huffs, almost sounding annoyed. Ace spares it an uncertain look – it doesn’t seem to be hostile but at the same time he doesn’t want to trust some creature he’s never seen or heard of before. Luffy seems just as offended by this statement, picking the lizard up like some soft puppy, fingers hooked under its clawed… paws. “No! I like Mr. Lizard,” Luffy insists with puffed out cheeks. “He can do neat tricks and it’s not scared of me. I want to take it back with us!” he then smiles and presses the tip of his nose between the pliant creature’s horns, nuzzling.

Ace gapes. “Wha- take it with us!? Are you crazy!? We don’t even know what it is.”

“It’s a lizard, duh. Ace, are you stupid?”

“ _I’m_ the stupid one!?” the older boy gestures the creature’s way. It stares at him, mistrustful. “For you information, dumbass, lizards _do not_ have wings nor do they have horns! Set it down, and let’s go back. We’re pretty damn far away from the entrance and it’s gonna take us a while to return to the surface not to mention trek back to the village!”

For a moment, Luffy looks at him and then slowly gets up, dragging the motionless not-wizard along with him, “Okay,” he nods, then to his new “pet”, “Let’s go, Mr. Lizard, before Ace the Grump pops something.”

Ace murmurs something ineligible and taps his foot on the dirt, impatient. “It’s not gonna go back home with us.”

“Why not!?”

“Because I’m older and I said so.”

“Well, maybe Mr. Lizard wants to come with!” Luffy yells out, face flushing.

An idea forms in Ace’s head and he’s certain of his victory and prevailing sibling authority when he puts his hands on his hips and tells his idiotic younger brother, “Oh yeah? Set _“Mr. Lizard”_ ,” he air-quotes, balancing the torch with his elbow, relishing in Luffy’s eyeroll, “down and then let’s see if it really wants to follow you back home. If it doesn’t, that means it is staying,” the younger boy seems thoroughly unconvinced so Ace adds, “you’re not going to force it to come along, are you?”

Reluctantly, Luffy sets the big not-lizard down on the dusty ground and stares at it, waiting for some sort of reaction. It only looks up, dark beady eyes unblinking. In this light, the boys notice the discolored spot stretching over its left eye, burn-like – the skin appears to be smooth there, _human_. Its left eye is paler too, the creature appears to be blinded by its old injury. Luffy thinks that it would explain their collision – perhaps Mr. Lizard didn’t see him, only heard the approaching human.

“Follow me?” Luffy offers, and takes a few uncertain steps back, standing closer to Ace. Mr. Lizard continues staring, frozen to the spot. A triumphant smirk curls Ace’s lips while Luffy appears to be more and more upset with every footfall. “Come on, don’t you want to leave?”

It sucks, seeing the younger boy like this, Ace decides, but it has to be done – they can’t force a wild animal to join them. Luffy got random pet adoption urges all the time. Last time, he wanted to take in a “lost” baby bear and the siblings ended up getting chased up into the trees by its very much present mom. How would they even explain this creature to Dadan? Where would they even keep it?

Luffy’s lower lip quivers at Mr. Lizard’s refusal to pursue him, and one last time Luffy pats his knees to beckon the creature to come closer. Ace opens his mouth to tell his brother that it’s not gonna work out but then, the lizard seemingly changes its mind and waddles towards Luffy, long tail curling around his exposed ankles.

Luffy squeaks excitedly and pets his blue-shaded hell creature, cooing, “I knew you’d want to go with me!”

Ace’s eyebrows knit in confusion while the Mr. Lizard lets itself get coddled by the clingiest six year old in the existence. The said boy laughs, “You promised me, Ace.”

“Whatever,” Ace mumbles, a little displeased with the outcome. He didn’t think that it’d actually work in Luffy’s favor. “But you’re to take care of it and properly feed it. If you get busted by Dadan I’m not gonna cover for you.”

“Ehhh, stingy!”

“And you’re being selfish!”

“It’s better than being a stingy grump!”

And so they leave the winding cave, Luffy spooning his lizard all the while.

* * *

 

It’s nightfall by the time they reach their village and the lizard becomes fussy, refusing to let Luffy leave it alone inside Dadan’s ancient toolshed. It keeps trying to leave with the boys no matter how much they try to distract it or push it back inside before it can escape and roam free to wreak havoc and terrorize late-night passersby. Ace’s certain that people would freak upon discovering this weird winged bat-lizard creature so he keeps on insisting for Luffy to just shove it back inside the cramped toolshed so that they can head back home and finally get something to eat – the scent of cooking meat reaches the two boys all the way across the sizeable veggie garden located between the toolshed and the house, along with Dadan’s friends’ usual boisterousness and drunken laughter. Tonight, they’re having a feast and Ace doesn’t feel like shoving aside old men and fighting Luffy for the last bit of meat.

“Just close the door faster!” Ace whines when the blue devil sneaks out once more and Luffy has to bend down to pick it up again to carry it inside. With every attempt, the lizard becomes harder to catch, producing bizarre sounds of distress. It looks like a sad puppy anxious to be left all alone and Luffy feels terrible for it but he’s undeniably hungry as well.

“Please, Mr. Lizard, just stay inside for a bit. I’ll be back soon. In fifteen minutes, no, _less_!” he shoves his splayed out fingers under his pet’s snout to explain. “And be quiet,” the boy adds when the creature peeps at him again. “Dadan’s not gonna give us any dinner if she finds out we’ve been taking in strays again.”

“I think you meant “I”, not “we”,” Ace corrects, arms crossed, a shoulder pressed into the side of the dark building.

“No dinner means no leftovers for you,” Luffy wags his index finger at it and attempts to close the door but the lizard sticks out its clawed paw through the gap. Certain that the door won’t fully close on it, the creature sticks its snout through the gap as well, exhaling noisily. Frustrated, Luffy looks up at Ace.

“No, no way, nope,” the freckled kid shakes his head. “Nuh-uh. Out of the goodness of my heart, I’m already wasting my time helping you out when I could be eating. _No_ , Luffy,” he sighs, pushing the pouty face out of his personal space, “We’re not smuggling your goddamn beast inside. It’s noisy as hell, we’ll get discovered!”

“Since when did you turn into such a party pooper? Is it that puberty thing?” Luffy whines, “Where’s your sense of adventure? It’s going to be fun.”

“Look, last time we did that, both of us ended up sleeping on the front lawn. I don’t want a repeat of that.”

“You’re saying it like you didn’t like it.” That night was warm, bright, the skies were clear and, naturally, the two kids didn’t do a whole lot of sleeping, the curfew no longer applying to them.

“An owl attacked you, Luffy!”

“Wasn’t that bad,” the kid pouts. That owl was seriously mean. Scratched him up real good – he still has pale scars on his inner forearms. “Come on. You won’t even notice it’s there. They won’t notice Mr. Lizard either, they’re so loud!”

“You know what, do what you want. But I’m telling them that I had nothing to do with this,” Ace crouches down to flick the lizard’s stuck snout, “You better not blow this for us, you whiny thing.”

The blue beast nips his finger in return.

* * *

 

The table is stacked in various tasty foods and by the time the kids return home, a third of the dishes are already gone. No one takes notice of them sneaking around and the guests move aside to let the two boys sit down and stack their plates high with grilled meat. The adults are heatedly discussing something about the trade, Dadan keeps reemerging from the kitchenette with steaming dishes and Luffy discreetly sets his satchel on the ground, occasionally throwing his new pet some food. Surprisingly, it’s well-behaved and it doesn’t make any weird sounds. The lizard’s covered snout only ever emerges when the piece of fruit or meat lands a little further away than intended.

Luffy keeps on inhaling meat until Ace kicks him under the table and gestures for Luffy to get up, take his pet and leave before something goes wrong. Deflated, Luffy obeys, taking his treasured lizard outside.

Ace stabs a fork into the table when he spots one of Dadan’s old men trying to nab a piece off his stack and overhears the most bizarre thing ever, “…brought it in for entertainment, I tell ya! Such a pity. I reckon that by the end of the night, it’ll be whisked away by dragon slayers.”

“What sort of fool brings a dragonborn into the town square!?” Dadan huffs and taps the ash off her cigarette. “Unheard of! If you ask me, the poor fool should’ve sold it off while he still had a chance! I hear the nobles pay a pretty penny for those nowadays.”

“I’d rather get killed off than spend the rest of my existence caged away and being gawked at,” one of the burly men mumbles into a mug of beer. “From a fearsome creature made of ancient magic to a circus attraction. What’s this world come to?”

“Momma said those lizards would fly by our village once a month. In flocks of eight,” Dadan says, staring off into the distance. Reminiscing. “If you didn’t have your cattle sheltered on time, they’d be good as dead. Damn thieves.”

The adults share a laugh at that, saluting with their half-empty mugs. Over the loud noise, Ace speaks up, “What are dragonborns?”

The reactions are varying – some men burst out laughing at the kid’s curiosity, some look mildly uncomfortable.  The thieving bastard sitting to Ace’s left ruffles his hair, pushing down on his head so hard that Ace feels his neck about to snap and his fingers automatically claw at the offending appendage. “Kid, you seriously don’t know what dragonborns are? Have you been living under a rock or what? Looks like those adventures of yours aren’t real adventures at all,” the bearded man laughs while Ace glowers from under the thick curtain of black, mussed hair, cheeks burning due to being humiliated.

“Oh lay off, Hawke!” Dadan yells from the other end of the table. “They were exterminated long before the little brat was born. No wonder he doesn’t know shit about them,” then, she turns to Ace, expression serious. “Those devil creatures used to be referred to as dragons before the Extermination waves began. I wouldn’t call them parasitic per se but they didn’t add much to our lives either. Hoarding gold, animals, sometimes even young ladies. No wonder no one wanted them around.”

“But they were very hard to defeat,” one man nods to the stunned-looking kid, “The big ones would grow into the size of a rye field and they could breathe fire. Flames so powerful that one dragon was more than enough to destroy an entire village. We lived in fear of them. Some of us worshiped them as gods while others condemned the dragonborns to hell. Such were the times, lad,” he nods, fingering the golden ringlet in his meaty earlobe. “Defeating a dragonborn and bringing its severed head to the village’s chief was considered a hero’s greatest honor. Their scales were impenetrable and not even the bravest warriors wanted to take those beasts on alone.”

“That’s when the dragon slayers showed up. They originated from a small clan up north – pardon, its name currently eludes me. They’re the ones who have discovered the materials capable of piercing right through a dragon’s thick skin and steel scales. Apparently, they’ve been using weapons made of those materials _centuries_ before we even found out about their existence. After the news of such capable weapons existing within the mortal realm has reached the King, he asked the clansmen for help. They were titled as dragon slayers, protectors of our land, granted the status and rights of the knights, paid generously, and in no more than ten years, they managed to exterminate all of the dragonborns.”

Ace exhales a shaky breath, a sense of dread overtaking him. If he isn’t wrong, _and he knows that he isn’t_ , what he and Luffy have taken in…

“A little something for the bedtime, kiddo,” Hawke leans in to whisper into his ear, breath reeking of booze and cigars. “They say that dragonborns are human beings who were cursed by insulted witches. Their filthy blood dyed the lands red and their headless corpses reverted to those of human men.”

Ace pales at that, sickened to the depths of his soul. Human!? Mr. Lizard is a human being trapped inside the distorted form of a dragon?

“Stop scaring him, man, can’t you see he’s already pale as a sheet,” the storyteller guffaws and then looks around, “Come to think of it, where’s the little one? I swear I saw him around.”

“He’s outside,” Dadan states in a displeased voice, turning away from the darkened window, “Ace, be a dear and go get Luffy. He shouldn’t wander around so late.”

“Or the dragonborns might catch him,” Hawke cackles and Ace tries very hard to withhold himself from decking the guy only because it'll land him in trouble with Dadan. As she says; table manners and all, he’ll have to learn them eventually. Punching people isn’t the way out of your problems, Ace. Blah blah.

“Enough!” Dadan roars, slamming a firm hand on the unsteady table top, “There are no such things as dragonborns and they’re most certainly not real men who were cursed,” it’s pretty clear that she’s only saying this to subtly soothe Ace’s overworking mind and it’s nice of her and all, but now, Ace knows better. Knows that perhaps there is truth to their nonsensical-sounding stories – dragons are _real_ and the living, breathing proof is currently being cuddled by Luffy. “Your witchcraft nonsense is ridiculous.”

The adults start arguing about the existence of magic and whatnot so Ace takes that moment to run outside, nearly tripping in his haste to get to the toolshed.

“What’s up?” Luffy asks from his spot on a pile of hay with the dragon lying beside him, _human skin-_ colored tummy up and exposed. It seems to be dozing off. There’s hay in Luffy’s hair when he lifts himself up to rest on his elbows, his smile replaced by a deep frown. “Something wrong?”

Ace takes a moment to catch his breath, holding onto some tool for support, “I found out who Mr. Lizard is and trust me it’s not a lizard. Not even close.”

Luffy looks thoroughly miffed, switching between staring at his older brother and the lizard, eyebrows pinched. “What do you mean? Looks like a lizard to me,” the dragon rolls over, shoving its head into the stack. As though it’s trying to ignore the ruckus. That’s not normal animal behavior!

“That’s because we’ve never encountered a dragon!” Ace’s voice strains as he raises his arms in a desperate shrug. “No one has, not for a very long time. And we found a fricking dragonborn inside a cave!” with a gasp or realization, he heads towards the pair, poking the dragon awake. “ _You._ You’re a human, aren’t you!?” Ace questions, gaze wild, and somehow, even in the dimmed lights of the covered lantern placed on the windowsill, the lizard seems _taken aback._

He understands me, Ace thinks desperately, he definitely does, there’s no doubt about it.

Luffy’s in his face immediately, a hand curled over Ace’s cool forehead. “Did you hit your head? It’s a lizard, Ace, look at it. Where do you see someone human?”

“We have to return him from where he came. Before they see him. This time I’m dead serious, Lu,” Ace panics, glancing outside. Neither Dadan nor the rest have moved from the dining hall. “Shit, what if anyone saw? We’re doomed,” he mumbles, grasping at his hair.

“Are you feeling okay?” Luffy asks cautiously, “you’re acting more crazy than usual.”

With a garbled noise, Ace forcefully wills himself to calm down. “ _Listen_ this is going to sound strange, but I need you to hear me out very carefully,” he says slowly and crouches on the holed floor, back pressed against the door. Ace takes in a deep breath and tells Luffy the story of dragonborns and dragon slayers and how messed up this is. Luffy, instead of being completely appalled, looks at the lizard-possibly-human-definitely-a-dragon with an excited gleam in his brown eyes and that cannot mean anything good. “Will you let me ride on your back when you grow up big and strong, Mr. Lizard?” he asks and the dragon produces a chick-like chirp, light blue snout booping the back of Luffy’s slack hand.

“Are you even listening to me!?” Ace winces but Luffy looks at him with utmost seriousness when he speaks up.

“Yeah, and I don’t see the problem? He’s small so he’s not going to hurt anyone and he can hide. You can hide, yes?” the dragon only blinks, “And when he grows bigger we can move him to the woods or the cave! He’ll learn how to fly and defend himself and he can leave if he wants to.”

“We can’t keep a _dragon_ in a _toolshed_!”

“Why not?”

Ace clicks his tongue at Luffy’s outrageous naivety, “Ugh! It’s a dragon!”

“So?”

“God, you’re so dense sometimes!” Ace exhales noisily and gets up, knees popping. If it is indeed human, it must have at least some level of language understanding, hell, the creature probably understands _them_. The thought of some beady-eyed amalgamated lizard actually comprehending human language is bizarre to say the least. Ace wants to know how far that knowledge reaches, perhaps get some hints, explanations. “Okay, we can argue about this later, I wanna test something out.”

Luffy squints, suspicious. Wraps his arms around the lazy blue shit. “Is it going to hurt Mr. Lizard?”

“No, Luffy, I’m not hurting your Mr. Dragonborn.”

“Lizard.”

“I’m not going to argue with you about this.”

“Then don’t!”

* * *

 

It takes a while to find a piece of clean paper, an ink bottle and a proper pen that isn’t completely crusted over with the remains of black ink. It’s not too surprising that the search drags out – neither he nor Luffy were too enthusiastic about writing and studying in general. They knew their letters but struggled with reading, Luffy even more so than Ace. Staring at the pen, Ace shakes his head – a dragon’s not going to write him anything. Hurriedly, he throws it back into the open drawer where he found it and picks up a paintbrush instead. He isn’t sure why they even own one but he isn’t complaining – it’ll have to do.

“Alright, what’s your name?” Ace asks slowly after he spreads out the paper on the floor and shoves the paintbrush under the “lizard’s” nose. It stares at him in confusion and Ace snips, equally excited and aggravated, “Come on, take it! I know that you can understand me.”

Sure, Ace doesn’t really think about how old the human trapped inside might be, but who can blame him? Reluctantly, the dragonborn takes the offered brush, loosely holding it in its mouth. Luffy gasps in amazement, holding one end of the paper scroll to keep it straight.

With a lot of maneuvering, the small dragon sets the end of the brush on the paper and begins writing something, lines shaky. The boys don’t dare to breathe, watching the dragonborn work. It takes a minute, perhaps even more, but when the “lizard” folds its leathery wings and steps back, the paper spells out a name.

“Sabo,” Ace says, strangely winded, staring at the magical creature with wide eyes. “Your name is Sabo.”

The dragonborn curls its tail around its legs, head lowered. It seems so small and miserable that even Ace’s heart clenches at the pathetic sight and now he fully understands why Luffy insisted on dragging the poor cursed… human kid along.

Luffy nearly yells in delight, “That’s so neat, you can even write! Not a lot of lizards can.”

“Luffy!” Ace hisses and swats the younger over the back. “Don’t call him that.”

“Sorry!” he winces, still not fully grasping the severity and the full concept of their current situation. “Slipped up.”

“I’m so sorry for treating you like that earlier,” Ace apologizes, overall feeling like a terrible human being. “I didn’t know. Still, doesn’t excuse my behavior in the slightest. My guardian might’ve mentioned that dragons are cursed human beings. Uh, are you one of them?” he finishes awkwardly, barely catching himself from rattling out “are you cursed”.

Sabo stiffens up after hearing the question, tail twitching irritably. He moves for the paintbrush but it keeps falling out of his mouth. Distress is apparent in the cursed dragonborn’s body language as it begins pacing around in circles, producing sounds that make no sense to human ears. It’s like he’s desperately trying to reach out to the boys but no matter what the dragon does, the message goes by completely unnoticed.

Playing charades and guessing don’t work for Luffy or Ace in the slightest and alas Sabo dejectedly heads to the stack of hay, tiredly plopping down on it, wings folding to cover the cursed boy’s head. Ace takes that moment to clean up while Luffy carefully approaches, wrapping a careful arm around the cool, small body of his new companion, whispering sweet nothings and reassurances.

Ace doesn’t know what to think.

He stares at the blocky letters of the dragonborn’s name, a certain kind of achy discomfort settling in his stomach. He feels bad for the creature, sure. But the worst part is the lack of mutual understanding and smooth communication.

Feeling more than a little exhausted, Ace snuffs out the lantern and walks to Luffy and Sabo, lying down on the dragon’s other side, arms crossed over his chest.

Sleep eludes him completely even though Luffy and the dragonborn doze off fifteen minutes in. An hour later, Ace gets up to fetch them a blanket from the house, convincing Dadan that everything was fine and that they simply wanted to sleep outside.

* * *

 

Choosing to let Sabo stay in the shed is not a _bad_ decision.

He’s so unlike all of their temporary “pets”, Luffy’s whims – Sabo’s a conscious human being trapped in a dragon’s body. He knows when to hide and how to do it well so Dadan never encounters him on those brief toolshed visits. During daytime, he goes outside after either Luffy or Ace reassure that the coast is clear and whenever the boys are visibly struggling to feed him, Sabo sneaks out on nightly hunts. He doesn’t mind them at all, after all, he’s survived like this for years now and he can do it again, no sweat. Even if rat guts aren’t his favorite.

It’s undeniably more _fun_ on the surface despite it being ridiculously dangerous – Sabo’s almost missed it. Sneaking up on people and scaring them with various noises is thrilling in itself and it feels really good to play with Ace and Luffy, go on “adventures” with them.

Sure, he doesn’t get to properly communicate with his human friends, but it’s enjoyable nonetheless.

Most of the time, though, he feels less human than ever – he is a dragon and always will be. Sabo’s a dangerous animal, a predator no worse than a starved wolf or an enraged bear, but somehow Ace and Luffy’s presence never fails to remind him who he truly is. Where his origins lie.

Getting attached to those two doesn’t quite work in Sabo’s favor – loneliness becomes his worst enemy. Staying alone for more than a few hours at a time with no one to keep him company becomes a ridiculously painful and a hard task to manage, so he tags along whenever he can, unable to sleep if Ace and Luffy aren’t around. As a result, they take a lot of naps together – mostly with Ace who apparently has some sort of sleeping dysfunction – and whenever Dadan’s out on one of her business trips, the boys bring their lizard friend inside the house. Those nights are absolutely the best, ending with Sabo and his human boys sleeping on a soft bed.

Sometimes Sabo wakes up feeling like a full human being with _a human body_ to boot and all of this seems to be close to a weird fever dream. However, Sabo always ends up getting slapped across the face by a cruel reality check - whenever Sabo tries to speak up to wish his dozing companions a good morning, his stomach plummets at the sound of animalistic squawking leaving his throat instead of human words that make sense.

He loves those boys _so much_ and he cannot properly thank them for showing him a better, brighter life. Ever since _that day_ , Sabo had resigned himself to permanently wasting away, but his hope never faded completely. Not truly. He still _believed_ despite knowing that hope was the mother of all fools; that life could get better, would get better _eventually_ and he waited as days blended into months and years.

And it truly did get better.

But years keep on passing by. In the blink of an eye, summer turns into a cool autumn which turns into an even colder winter and while Sabo’s human boys grow older, they also grow bigger and undeniably stronger.

Shockingly, the exact same thing happens to Sabo’s ugly dragon form as it shapes up into something bigger and much more intimidating. Soon enough, he won’t be able to hide himself in the haystack without his horns, wings or tail poking out and that’ll put his beloved boys at a great risk.

They’re fifteen and eleven respectively and at this point Sabo knows that he’ll inevitably have to return to the wild. The mere thought of it pains him like a glass shard slicing at his skin, but he has to suck it up and disappear.

Privately, Sabo wonders how old _he_ is. Fifteen? Sixteen? He’s lost count.

Besides, Ace and Luffy should be “out there”, finding human friends and doing dumb teenager things, yet they choose to remain by Sabo’s side as though this isn’t even a matter of choice, dropping their social lives for the sake of adventuring and spending time together. He appreciates it but he also cannot help but worry for them – humans are all about the sense of community, right? He doesn’t want Ace and Luffy to be rejected by their fellow peers for their avoidance.

“You’re so big now, Sabo,” Luffy coos in that same voice, hugging Sabo’s neck. It’s sturdy, thick, and Luffy compares it to a tree trunk daily. “You can finally learn how to fly!” he says excitedly.

Sabo snorts in return. Luffy laughs, “And I’ll be the first one to ride on your back, right? We promised!”

The dragonborn falls on top of the giggling teen in reply, squishing him into the hay. Luffy squeaks something about him being heavy and hits the side of his back – Sabo can’t tell if the hits are serious or not, the scales completely absorb the shock of the hit. However, Luffy’s still grinning so he assumes that he isn’t hurting the other in the slightest. They wrestle around for a while until the kid tires himself out and lies back, gaze focused on the patched up ceiling of the shed. It looks way smaller than it did four years ago. “Sabo?” he asks and the dragonborn raises his head to indicate that he’s listening.

Luffy doesn’t look at him as he continues speaking, vacant-eyed. “Sometimes it’s hard to speak to you. I know that you’re listening and that you understand but I don’t know how much of it… means anything to you. I’m not like Ace, I can’t figure you out sometimes. But I try my best,” he exhales, deflating, “I always do. And once you learn how to fly, will you fly somewhere far away from us and never come back? Will you remember us? Visit us? I don’t want you to stay cooped up in here forever but I also want to see you again, even if it takes a while for you to return. We’re like brothers and I love you, Sabo. So if you fully get me, I want you to know that we’ll always wait for you. I want a reunion, with the three of us,” Luffy hugs him again, eyes closed and the side of his face pressed into the poofy part of his scales.

And Sabo wants to reassure him, wants to say “me too, I hope that we can see each other again and that you and Ace will not forget all about me the moment I leave”, but he cannot, so he remains quiet and bends his wings around Luffy – a hug of sorts.

They remain like this for a very long while.

* * *

 

The summer is ending when Ace finally agrees to nightly flying lessons and they sneak out into the woods, too afraid to use a torch. The clearing that they reach is spacious enough for Sabo to properly unfold his huge wings with enough space to move around and the moon sheds just enough light on their forms.

Carefully, Sabo flaps his wings twice, unsure how to proceed. The slight breeze caused by the sudden movement ruffles Ace’s untamable hair and the teen steps in closer, tells Sabo to put more effort into it.

Sabo "accidentally" knocks Ace off balance with a swipe of his tail.

“Why you!” Ace laughs as Luffy fondly watches from further away, perched on a rotting tree trunk, hands wrapped around his bony ankles. “Come on,” Ace smacks the side of Sabo’s hind legs as though he’s some reluctant steed. “Just try!”

So Sabo tries. Flops down over and over again, but by the end of the night he learns how to float-hover – and it’s only because after carefully observing his struggles Ace offers him to run or at least jump before flapping his wings – and his boys shower him in praise.

While they’re trekking back, Ace falls over face-first into dirt but Luffy doesn’t even react, collecting his snoring brother in his arms, “Mind carrying this for me?” Luffy asks with an exaggeratedly scrunched up nose as though he’s currently holding a piece of turd in his hands and Sabo starts laughing but it comes out as a series of chirps and twitches, tail whipping to the sides to show his glee. Luffy laughs too and throws Ace’s passed out form over Sabo’s wide back. The latter fixes the freckled teen’s pose with his wings, wrapping one around him like a blanket. Ace snuggles into it and doesn’t move for the rest of the trip, fingers grasping at the pale yellow protrusions growing out of Sabo’s spine.

* * *

 

A week later, Luffy’s the one screaming bloody murder into the night, whooping in joy so loudly that Sabo’s afraid someone’s gonna overhear despite them being located a fair distance from the village. As promised, Luffy’s the first one hitching a ride, and saying that he’s absolutely exhilarated is a sore understatement – his arms are carelessly spread wide despite them being quite a distance away from the safety of the ground, harsh wind mercilessly whipping his unstable frame. Somewhere down below, Ace continuously yells at his idiotic younger brother – “for the love of god, hold onto Sabo, using your legs isn’t enough, Luffy, you just made me age like thirty years!” – but Luffy doesn’t listen, too busy screaming himself hoarse. Sabo circles around the clearing, flapping his wings in the right way and getting used to the feeling – it’s the most alive he’s felt in ages. Perhaps there are _some_ perks to this draconic state of being.

Ace is no more than a tiny, barely visible dot on the forest floor but Sabo doesn’t have to be a genius to know that his expression is most likely one of utter terror, so he lands a bit sooner than he’d planned, Luffy hooting all the while, legs shaking from the strain – apparently it takes a whole lot of muscle strength to remain seated on top of a flying, unstable object without using your hands or any sort of support.

“That was awesome!” Luffy yells and coughs a little, spitting out a fly. Ace pulls a disgusted face. “You need to try it out right now, Ace! Just, uh, don’t keep your mouth open,” he says as he coughs out another bug, “Blegh!”

“Okay, first of all, gross,” the older boy comments, nose scrunched up. “Second, I’d love to but…” he shrugs.

“But?” Luffy presses.

Ace looks away, visibly a bit nervous. “Never mind. Perhaps next time.”

Sabo stares at Ace’s stiff back, slumped shoulders, and when the teen doesn’t turn to face him, he shoves the kid with his snout, hard enough to make him stumble forward, “Dude, what the hell!” Ace squawks in surprise, steadying himself on Luffy’s shoulder.

In reply, Sabo only lets out an aggravated huff and lies down, flapping his wings impatiently and bending his neck a few times to indicate "Mr. Too cool to ride a badass dragon" to hop on.

“Don’t roll your eyes at me,” Ace jibes, twirling his thumbs. He still seems reluctant, though, and for the hell of him, Sabo cannot figure out why.

Another tense moment passes with Luffy looking close to forcing Ace into mounting Sabo, but he refrains. Sabo lets out another snort to break the awkward silence, turning in a comfortable angle to butt at Ace’s face with his snout – a comfort. It’s dark, yet the sadness is apparent in his silver eyes. With a soft, defeated sigh, Ace pats Sabo’s long snout, shoulders falling even further. His grip is unsteady.

“If I get on, this will mark the end of your flying classes, buddy,” Ace begins, sniffles. “And, uh. I guess I don’t want this to end so soon since I've no idea what you’re going to do afterwards, so,” his other hand joins Sabo’s snout, holding it gently, cradling. “Luffy told me about your talk. We don’t want you disappearing on us, _I_ don’t want you disappearing on us. The worst part is not knowing. And if there’s one thing that I’ve managed to figure out a long time ago is that you can’t communicate with us because of your condition. It’s the spell, right? The one that forbids you from disclosing more than your name,” to the side, Luffy awkwardly shuffles his feet over the dry moss, head lowered. He’s inspecting his shoes as though they’re the most interesting thing in the world – it’s better than intruding on whatever is happening before his eyes. “Sabo, look at me,” Ace says even though he’s _right there_ and when has Sabo closed his eyes?”

A few words are more than enough to break someone’s heart and bring back painful memories, Sabo thinks through the buzzing discomfort of his spell acting up once more. He never thought that anyone would ever figure out his condition, anyone would actually invest time into putting together all of the clues that Sabo has desperately tried to throw around whenever he could despite the certain limitations. There wasn't much that Sabo’s dragon form could do. And Ace had him all figured out, just like that.

And Sabo cannot confirm nor deny it, the spell bending his body in unimaginable ways, making him physically unable to say “yes, Ace, I’ve been fucking cursed and I cannot fully interact with the outside world because of it. I cannot interact with anyone of my original kin”.

The fact that he was allowed to write down his human name all those years ago is a surprise in itself.

Sabo forces himself to open his eyes and Ace looks into them, analyzing the pools of indigo blue, so dark that it could be mistaken for black. There’s nothing for him to discover there, no flashing answers of “yes, please help me, I beg of you”. There’s nothing, Sabo knows it all too well, knows that his curse won’t allow Ace to see anything, but somehow just looking at him is _enough_. Ace takes a few steps back and the tension leaves his body as though it’s never existed to begin with. There’s a subtle hint of a smile resting on his face and Sabo doesn’t dare to _hope_ , but he does anyways because he is a fool. Lately, Ace’s been getting under his skin, chipping away at the dragonborn curse; the freckled teen is so painfully perceptive and he’s been going at this so smoothly, and –

Sometimes, in his darkest hours, Sabo thinks that perhaps Ace is _The One_ meant to do this. It’s a dumb thought to entertain, but Sabo holds onto it nonetheless because it keeps him going.

“Alright, I made up my mind,” Ace announces and Luffy takes it as his cue to look up, still a little wound up. “I’ll be taking you up on that offer,” then, to Luffy, he says, “You can head back home, I’ve something to discuss with Sabo-boy here,” Ace pats his lighter-shaded snout, making the dragonborn back off with a strangled chirp.

“Hey, no fair!” Luffy blows out his cheeks, looking between his brother and the dragon. “How come you get extra time in the air!?”

“Because you kept whining my ear off about it for weeks now. Because I’m older,” Ace lists off his "reasons" with an amused snort, reaching out to pat Luffy’s head but the kid swats the limb away, “Because it’s past your curfew _and_ because I said so. Also you don’t even know what the word safety means so you better start marching towards the village, Lu!”

“What, so you can make kissy faces at Sabo to break the spell!?” Luffy huffs, annoyed, and it makes Ace physically recoil while Sabo’s soft scales puff out even further, like the fur of a startled cat. “Lame! You should read less fairytales! But if it actually works out, then you better bring Sabo home and convince Dadan to take him in. Tell her that Sabo’s your fiancé or whatever!” Luffy waves them off, already stomping in the direction of the hidden path.

“I wasn’t going to – “ Ace gapes like a fish pulled out of water, eyes blown wide and face slowly coloring. He doesn’t get to sneak in another word because the boy enters the forest and disappears from sight, swallowed up by the sturdy tree trunks. “Ugh, he’s impossible!” Ace exclaims, covering his hot face.

Sabo stands to the side, still as a marble statue, not even daring to breathe.

Ace lets out a frustrated breath. Great. _More awkwardness._ Just what they needed. “For the record, I wasn’t going to kiss you,” he reassures the dragonborn just in case, face turning to fire due to his flippant admittance. Okay, so perhaps the thought might’ve crossed his mind once or twice because that’s how spell-breaking usually worked in stories, right? You kiss the girl, she comes back to life. You kiss a prince, he reverts from frog to human. And while Ace doesn't consider himself fairytale protagonist-material, it's worth a shot, right? “I just wanted to talk to you. Like, about life, I guess,” Ace throws his hands in the air, still embarrassed.

Sabo’s tail flips over and he settles again, stiff as ever.

Luffy’s words make his mind positively reel – did his boys actually see the _answer_ in Sabo’s eyes while he was facing Ace, lost in agony and forced apathy? Or was Luffy simply clinging to Ace’s theory – something that might be no more than assumption in the eyes of humans since Sabo couldn’t confirm nor deny it.

Sabo does not remember the exact details of the dragonborn curse. Whenever he tries to recall it, the memory comes up foggy at best. He’s uncertain if it has to do with the shock of, _you know_ , actually being cursed or the fact that he was very young when it happened. Too young to fully comprehend what was going on. Perhaps it’s both.

One moment he was a human boy and the next he was a monster.

The words “loved one” are the only ones that he remembers.

But a "loved one" could be anyone; could be Luffy, even. He loves Luffy and he certainly loves Ace. Both of them are equally important to Sabo and he’d do everything in his power to keep them safe and sound. Even walk out of their lives if needed. And what was a loved one even supposed to do? What was Sabo supposed to do? There were far too many possibilities in here to consider.

Driven by anxiety and curiosity, the dragonborn crowds Ace, wings spread wide, shading the human’s surprised face and blocking out the moonlight. Wide-eyed, Ace looks up and Sabo lowers his neck to face him, boring into the brunet’s silver eyes. Confusion flashes in them followed by a flash of realization and his human's mouth forms an “o”, “Oh no,” Ace says with a sly grin. “I’m not kissing you until I at least get a ride on the back.”

Sabo’s tail catches the backs of his shins and trips him up when he turns, waiting for Ace to get on, fingers pressed in the gaps of the hard scales. It takes a while to adjust. “You’re not gonna throw me off for refusing to give you a smooch, are you?” Ace questions, and just to be an asshole, Sabo shoots into the air at his best speed, Ace’s terrified screaming slowly turning into laughter and then stunned silence.

“Holy shit, this is beautiful,” Sabo easily picks up on Ace's wonder with his enhanced hearing and flies towards the silver moon, leaving the forest behind. The stretch of the land and the blending treetops resemble an off-green carpet. “I know, it’d be great to reach the stars, but the air’s thinning out a little,” Ace coughs soon after, harsh wind dancing in his face, hair, clothes. “Lower.”

And as Ace says it, Sabo stills his movements, wings spread out. They float, smoothly sailing over the dark of the night, past the fluffy clouds. Ace leans closer to Sabo’s body, hands moving to grasp the sides of his long neck. Curiously, Ace shuffles up and peers down at the green and yellow stretch of lands. The lights of their village are dimmed, only a few households awake. Even from this distance, Ace can tell to whom they belong to. There’s Makino’s bar and that glow in the distance belongs to their eccentric neighbors. To Ace, it feels like he’s the one flying here so he presses his cheek into Sabo’s steel-hard scales, ignoring the slight discomfort that comes from the jagged edges. “I love it,” Ace mutters, listening to the faint sounds of Sabo’s wings slicing though wind. “Thanks.”

Sabo cranes his neck to peer at Ace, something mischievous flashing in his dark eyes. Cautiously, Ace straightens up on reflex, fingers digging into the scales even further. His spine is so tense it feels about to snap in half.

“What are you doing?” he begins when Sabo ceases moving altogether and _they fall from the sky._

As terrifying as it is, plummeting towards the ground and inevitable death while riding a goddamn dragonborn, there’s something about Sabo’s presence that provides him with a sense of security despite Ace’s ear-curling curses implying otherwise. Sabo the Shithead lets them fall at least a hundred meters before spreading out his wings once again, balancing them.

Ace claws at him for dear life, hair standing up, body submitting to involuntary shivers. “Never mind, I hate it,” Ace hisses out through clenches teeth, the adrenaline thick in his veins. “Set us down, you ass.”

He feels the dragonborn twitch beneath him – if Sabo was human, this would definitely indicate a laugh.

“Yeah, laugh it up, I bet you’d be _crying_ if I was the dragonborn here,” Ace mumbles but doesn’t complain for the rest of the flight. They land in a clearing located further away from the village, and right as Sabo sets his hind legs down, a cloud of fireflies bursts out from the surrounding tall grass and shrubbery.

It looks so amazing that for a minute Ace forgets that he has the ability to speak. “I can’t believe this… We’ve passed by this place so many times but it never occurred to us to come here at night,” surprised, he pokes at one lazy bug flying the closest to his face, behind glowing a greenish yellow. It lands right on Ace’s extended finger, crawling around, checking the perimeter of its new perch. The freckled teen blows it away to join the rest. “A ride in the sky with a freefall to wrap it up and then you bring me here? What a romantic,” Ace teases while Sabo shoots him a flat stare and then jabs his snout into a creek, drinking greedily. There were no water sources in their old clearing. Oh. “My mistake,” Ace hums but the smile doesn’t leave his lips regardless as he goes to join Sabo, sitting back on his haunches, a piece of grass held in his fingers. It’s bright enough to properly make out his surroundings.

A little bored, Ace starts looking around, gaze landing on his dragonborn companion. Sabo’s a pretty dragon, his colors reminding Ace of nighttime. Ace has always admired the way the midnight blue faded into the lighter shades of azure and then finally into pale peach – fair skin. His horns were an off white and his gold-tipped scales glittered in the right light. His graceful appearance often made Ace wonder about Sabo’s human form, what it would look like. What it looked like. What was Sabo like as a kid? Small like Luffy? Sabo was so thin and weak back when they found him, and he would’ve easily triggered Ace’s brotherly instincts no matter what he looked like. They grew up together, him and Luffy, and Sabo grew with them, nubby horns replaced by proper ones, canines lengthening. He grew up much like animals do, so it was nearly impossible for Ace to see Sabo as anything beyond that. A humanoid dragon.

But _human_ Sabo would lack the razor-sharp claws and the horns. Would he be sturdy, just like his current dragon form? Taller than Ace? Would his skin be fair and would he still have the scar over his left eye? Would Sabo have blue irises and hair to match his body, or golden, just like the gold-dipped scales? Those were the questions he’d never get the answers to.

As if hearing his thoughts, Sabo side-eyes the human, nose still dipped in the gurgling water. He offers Ace a wing to ward off the cold – the wind gets chilly at night. He remembers that much at least.

“What did you look like?” Ace asks no one in particular. “I wonder if you even remember. Were you just a baby when they cursed you? No, that’s not right – you wouldn’t be able to write. Unless you came from a noble family – they educate their snotty-nosed brats at a young age,” Sabo ceases drinking, looks into the distance. “I bet all dragonborns were rage-filled nobles who pissed off far too many witches.”

It amazes Sabo just how _right_ a person can be, as though they’re completely in sync with their surroundings, the surroundings being _Sabo_ and his tangible brooding.

Ace quiets down while Sabo remembers.

* * *

 

He doesn’t remember much of his parents, just that they were cruel people who thought of their only son as too “opinionated and rebellious” despite him being no older than eight when _the Witch_ appeared on their polished doorstep. She pleaded for shelter while holding a young feverish girl in her dirty arms – there were no other buildings anywhere in sight so the witch had no other choice but to try her luck at the nobles' place. The storm was getting worse by the second and so was the witch’s little girl, the wind strong enough to rip out the weaker trees, lightning flashing in the distance. Sabo stood behind his parents with a hand pressed to his face to contain his horror the moment his father called the guards and ordered them to “escort” the woman outside. Right as one of the guards ripped away the witch’s child from her and threw the girl in the dirty puddle water, soaking her considerably cleaner, drier clothes, lighting flashed at the gates of the mansion, roaring with the witch’s rage and humiliation.

The scent of the wild storm was thick in the air, charged with electricity, loud from the ceaseless rain. As a clap of thunder followed up the strike, the witch pointed at them, at the heartless family of unimpressed nobles, pointed at their only son and yelled her curse.

Before he knew it, Sabo was lying on the ground, writhing from the intense _pain_ radiating from his chest.

He screamed in agony and kicked around as his skeleton deformed and dragon scales tore open his fair skin, sharp like tiny razors. By the time the witch disappeared in the tree line, Sabo was no longer human; his was father screaming in terror while his mother fainted at the sight of his new form.

They… weren’t truly parents and Sabo didn’t deserve to bear the curse of their sins and intolerable behavior, yet here he was. They got rid of him a day later and faked a sudden, unfortunate funeral – they honorably buried Sabo Outlook, the son of the grand duke of Goa, and that was the end of that.

The poor, travelling witch just happened to stumble across the wrong mansion – a residence that belonged to perhaps one of the cruelest dukes out there. Sabo couldn’t blame her.

* * *

 

However, he does want his body back.

And Ace is there to provide.

“If you turn out to be a prince, you better marry me so that I can give Luffy and Dadan the life that they deserve,” Ace whispers and wipes off the remains of the creek’s water off Sabo’s jaws with his sleeve.

Sabo’s mind reels and he prepares himself for whatever may come. Ace gets close, hesitates, laughs at the ridiculousness of their current situation – god, _he’s about to kiss a dragonborn_ just like Luffy said he would – and leans in, pressing his warm lips on the center of Sabo’s powerful jaws.

They stay like this for a moment. Ace’s eyes squeeze shut, anxious for magic or whatever the hell that'll come afterwards, while Sabo’s widen, expecting. Waiting.

There’s a warm feeling curling in his chest and he chases after it, waits for some sort of sign that the curse has been lifted but…

Nothing happens.

The warmth that he feels gradually subsides, slowly replaced by smothering dread.

So Ace isn’t _The One._

The freckled teen reluctantly pulls away with a sad look painting his liquid-silver eyes, his thumb stroking over the spot that he kissed. “I’m sorry,” he whispers emphatically, overwhelmingly apologetic, and somehow hearing it makes it all that much worse. The last of Sabo’s hopes and expectations crash and burn around him.


	2. human

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> when will my wife come back home from war   
> unbeta'd bam

After the failed kiss, Sabo ends up in an emotional slump for days to come. It’s pretty damn obvious that Ace is blaming himself for it even though they had no way of knowing whether it’d work, so after a few curt dismissals of the general topic and half-assed reassurances on everything being just fine, Luffy stops asking altogether. Ace starts avoiding the toolshed like fire, always finding lame excuses to justify his actions. Eventually, Luffy notices that his older brother’s been coming back home late in the evening, choosing to invest more time into hanging out with his new friends.

“Are you upset that Ace is being a butt and avoiding you?” Luffy asks one evening without bothering to mince his words, a warm arm thrown over Sabo’s thick neck. Fondly, the human boy recalls the good old days when the dragonborn was small enough for him to scoop up and cuddle. Now it’s getting a bit hard to hold a single body part of his. 

Sabo only lets out a dejected snort and buries his horned head deeper into the haystack.

He isn’t too sure which one sucks more – the blinding disappointment or the undeniable heartbreak that has resulted in Ace’s avoidance.

* * *

 

Through his new connections, Ace winds up in a dangerous line of work which happens to pay quite generously. Nowadays he’s always out of the house but Dadan doesn’t complain because she knows that Ace is safe with those reliable comrades of his. Even she has heard of this Whitebeard person and she can respect what they’re trying to do – collapse the corrupt households of the nobles one at a time. Thanks to Ace’s efforts, there’s always food on their table and he still returns home for the night so the old woman lets her troublemaker son go.

Whenever he’s not at work, Ace spends his free time training for the job, polishing his stealth skills, accuracy, building up physical strength. By the time he turns seventeen, he looks like he could easily snap Luffy’s slim torso in half just by hugging him.

When Ace turns seventeen, Sabo moves out of the toolshed.

He’s far too big for the stack and after nearly getting discovered by Dadan’s drunken friend, they boys have decided that it was a high time to let Sabo go. The dragonborn didn’t mind it in the slightest, really, a bit uncomfortable with the small space – his wings were constantly cramping from being folded into each other, hurting his back whenever he went out for one of his “nightly escapades”. It also kind of sucked that he couldn’t enter their house anymore either – his body was way too thick to push through the threshold.

Sabo decided to head back to the caves where he spent the first years of his cursed existence – the place, while unwelcome, provided good cover from the prying eyes of humans. Besides, with those tunnels? One would likely get lost and die from hunger before getting to the dragonborn hidden inside. It helped that Sabo had the entire layout memorized years ago.

Luffy takes to calling the cave Sabo’s home despite it being anything but homely, yet Sabo finds that he quite likes it. Home, huh? A place to return to.

There’s an undeniably nice ring to it.

* * *

 

Thank god, he and Ace are way past the awkward post-one-sided kiss stage – hell, they got over it a week in – and now Ace has taken it upon himself to challenge Sabo to daily accuracy contests. Ace uses knives and arrows to nail down his suspended targets whereas Sabo begins learning fire-breathing. He knows it to be a part of him, coded into his draconic biology, remembers making smoke curl from his jaws and nostrils but now he has to learn it for the sake of self-defense.

Ace tells him that lately there’s been a lot of dragon slayer activity in the neighboring territories. At this point, an encounter with some hunters is inevitable.

His boys still freak the hell out on the day Sabo decides to show off, blowing a perfect azure fire ball at Ace’s target and destroying it. He’s proud of himself and he’s expected nothing less – it took Sabo four months to learn how to produce fire and a few extra weeks to grasp the concept on how to shape it.

Due to Ace and Dadan’s constant nagging, Luffy continues his half-assed studying and reluctantly signs up for the local school where he makes lots of new friends, connecting with the most unlikely people. Whenever he drops by for a visit, the young boy rants Sabo’s ears off about his new gang’s little adventures, talking so fast that sometimes the dragonborn has trouble keeping up. Luffy promises Sabo to bring over his buddies as well – they’d surely love to meet him. The again, who wouldn’t, really? He’s probably one of the last few dragonborns remaining in this land.

Sabo’s not really looking forward to being gawked at by a bunch of teenagers but Luffy reassures him that his friends are above that so he relents. He’ll do it only because Luffy wants him to.

Privately, he wonders how much different their first encounters would be if he was actually human, and banishes that thought out of his head. He should stop hoping. If Ace’s kindness wasn’t enough to break this curse, he doubts that anything else can.

* * *

 

Everything starts going downhill right after Luffy’s most recent visit.

The kid nearly runs out from the school building and all the way to Sabo’s cave, excited to tell the dragonborn about his upcoming visit to the neighboring village, but finds no one waiting. Confused, Luffy walks around the semi-circle-shaped clearing, calling out the dragonborn’s name. It’s definitely strange for Sabo to leave here during daytime, Luffy figures, and right as he’s about to approach and enter the cave, he hears a suspicious rustling coming from the direction of the towering bushes. The countless hours spent training his senses and instincts finally do him good, kicking in in the blink of an eye. Luffy whirls around, eyes blown wide and fists raised just in case, ready to fight off whoever might pounce out.

The rustling dies down before repeating somewhere to his left, this time quieter. Luffy doesn’t bother turning around to inspect it, his voice even when he says, “I know you’re out there. Show yourself.”

Nothing out of the ordinary happens afterwards so Luffy clicks his tongue in annoyance. “If you don’t I’ll start looking for you either way,” he warns, finally heading in the direction of the tree line, scanning his surroundings.

The bold statement is followed by boisterous laughter. Luffy kind of expects it so he isn’t too startled when it happens. “Now aren’t you a real riot, kiddo?” a huge, burly man emerges from the luscious bush located right behind the teen. “Relax, it’s only me,” Hawke pacifies and digs through his pants pockets to find the cigar.

Tension dissipating, Luffy relaxes, flashing the guy his usual smile. He may not like Hawke too much – Ace outright hates the guy – but he’s a friend. “Oh, hey! What are you doing here? Thought that you might be with Dadan?” Luffy looks around, just a tad confused. Dadan and her men are supposed to be all the way in the capital right now, working on their trades. Did she come back early? Luffy shakes his head, of course not. It’ll take her another week to get back to the village.

Hawke raises an eyebrow at the boy’s questions and continues lighting a match, “Yeah, well,” the man inhales, “Took a break from the business. Won’t be around the village for a while so I thought I’d take a walk, enjoy the nature,” he huffs a scratchy laugh. “Never thought I’d run into you here. Where’s Portgas? Out on a job?” the man circles the little boy, making Luffy square his shoulders.

Luffy nods. “Yeah. He should be back sometime tomorrow though,” or so he hopes. He hasn’t seen Ace for a while now and it was starting to get a bit lonely. Luffy was unused to taking care of the house all by himself.

“That’s… perfect,” the burly man says, bringing the thick cigar to his lips. Luffy’s eyebrows shoot up in question. Won’t he be sad to leave without saying goodbye to Ace too? “In fact, it makes everything easier for me.”

The man steps closer and Luffy feels the subtle shift in the atmosphere. It’s so sudden that his head nearly reels. Something in man’s body language rubs Luffy the wrong way; the posture, his confident smirk.

There’s a glint of a hidden knife in Hawke’s hand and before Luffy can fully react, he’s restrained from behind while six more men enter the clearing with plain masks over their faces. They must’ve been hiding in various places before Luffy even got here. Briefly, the teen wonders if he’s been followed all the way from the village. He has no time left for wondering or thinking and lashes out with his legs instead, kicking one bastard in the stomach hard enough for him to double over. His arms nearly break due to the tightness of his stalker’s grip, seconds away from dislocating Luffy’s shoulders. The teen throws his head back in an attempt to bash in the other’s chin and teeth but the guy sees it coming and forces Luffy to his knees, cleanly moving out of the hit’s trajectory. To make sure that he lies still, the fucker rams a knee into his spine and shoves Luffy’s head into the dirt.

“Let me go!” Luffy yells and spits out the mud. “What do you want from Ace!?”

“Hey, no hard feelings, kid,” Hawke crouches down next to him, patting the side of Luffy’s twisted up face. The teen lashes out with his teeth but he doesn’t get to bite the two-faced bastard’s fingers because he moves them out of the way, “Whoa there. If you keep going on this track, you little beast, I might just change my mind on the “no blows to the face” rule.”

“Go to hell, bastard!” Luffy grinds out, glaring to show his defiance. He’s not scared of these people, however, he is afraid that these fucks are going to get to Sabo. Is that why the dragonborn stayed inside? Did he feel their evil presence and decide to hide away, hoping for Luffy to walk back home after finding no one out there?

“Changed my mind,” Hawke signals to the man holding him down and the dude lifts the kid just enough for Hawke to land a good blow on his face. “God, that felt good,” he blows on his reddened knuckles but Luffy’s far too enraged to notice the split lip gushing blood. “Would’ve felt even greater if it was Portgas’ pretty boy face, but we can’t have everything in this life.”

“You didn’t answer my question,” Luffy demands. “Did you follow me? What do you need from Ace?”

“It’s not that I need Portgas, kid. Though who am I to say that the concept of owning him isn’t tempting in the slightest. The brat grew up fucking stunning!” the teen bites his lip at that, trying to keep down the urge to vomit. The thought of Hawke looking at his older brother in that sort of way is repulsive. “Could make some readjustments to his rage-driven personality. No wonder you two kids are related,” Hawke clicks his tongue.  “Actually, I’m here for what Portgas owns. I thought that you might have an idea or two as to where I can find it, so I had my boys follow you around for a few days,” ashamed, Luffy stares at the ground. He cannot believe that he let himself get stalked by some… some predators.

“I’ve no idea what you’re talking about,” Luffy spits out the excess blood pooling in his mouth.

There’s a knife pressed into his throat and the old traitor leans in, flashing yellowed teeth. “Oh, I think that you do, Luffy. And you’re going to tell me if you value your life,” the blade traces a thin line over his tan skin, leaving a small cut in its wake. It barely bleeds but it’s a threat as good as any. “Where’s the dragon?” Hawke hisses.

So they’re really there to find Sabo. “What do you care if there’s a dragon here or not? I’m not about to tell you anything, two-faced asshat.”

“Mind your tone around your elders, son. Dadan wouldn’t be pleased with your behavior.”

The mere mention of his guardian sets the teen off. “Don’t you dare to say her name!” Luffy roars, struggling in earnest and not one bit threatened. “You took her hospitality and stomped it into the mud! She trusted you!”

“Dadan’s a good, strong woman, kid. I hold a lot of respect for her that’s why I don’t wanna harm her cubs,” Hawke blows the smoke into his face, making the restrained teen cough and gag, nose curling. “But if you are to refuse the negotiations, you’ll leave me with no other choice. So be a good boy, Luffy, and tell me where your darling brother is hiding his dragonborn pet. There’s a lot of money riding on this. One dragon is more than enough for me to spend the remainder of my days without having to worry about work. Throw the old man a bone, kid. It’s just one stupid animal, Luffy. Tell me its whereabouts and we’ll let you go and never touch you or your brother, yeah? In fact, we won’t show up at this pisspoor village ever again.”

For a moment, Luffy remains quiet, shifting his gaze aside. Hawke stares at him expectantly, grin wide. Believing that he’s broken the brat’s will.

“Okay,” after some consideration Luffy says dejectedly, “just come closer so that he doesn’t hear. Don’t trust ‘em,” he underlines in a strong voice and shoots a nasty glare over his shoulder, wriggling under the bastard’s crushing weight, testing the strength of the restrains.

“Now we’re talking,” the man laughs, “I knew you were more agreeable than that feisty brother of yours. Well?” he leans down, the putrid scent of cigarettes and stale cheap beer overwhelming Luffy’s senses.

Eyes watering, Luffy inhales to the point his lungs hurt from the strain and then lets it all go, shouting into Hawke’s ear, “LIKE HELL I’D EVER TELL YOU, HOOK NOSE!”

The man holding him bashes the teen’s face into the ground for a second time that day, and even through the spiking pain, all that Luffy can think is – worth it.

* * *

 

They tie him to a tree, heating the hunting knives to torture the answers out of him. Luffy glowers, acidic gaze steady despite the fact that he can barely see from his left eye. All of the serious blows have been delivered to the sides of his body – he feels like one big bruise all around. At least his ribs seem to be in the right places and nothing is cracked or broken, the expanse of his skin blooming in dark splotches aside.

He’s going to protect Sabo even if he loses his life in the process. At least he will die knowing that he at least tried.

“I’m giving you one last chance here, brat,” Hawke says, his usual snark gone completely. “Tell me where to find the dragonborn.”

“Go fuck yourself,” Luffy coughs and braces himself for the first slice, the white-bladed hot knife hovering above his exposed skin but it never comes.

His torturer erupts in azure flames, screaming in agony and surprise, dropping to his knees to put out the fierce flames of hell.

“Dragonborn!” Hawke announces with a loud shout as Sabo emerges from the cave, the latter’s dark eyes pressed into hateful slits. He hisses at the men like a rage-filled cobra, peach-hued belly pressed into the ground to protect the less-scaled area from the incoming blows. The hunters’ spears bounce off his steel scales like toothpicks and Sabo crushes one with his powerful jaws, setting four people on fire in no more than a single breath. Disarray and panic overtake the scattering hunters, Sabo’s roars striking fear in their hammering hearts.

The big, sturdy asshole who’s spent the majority of his “free” time torturing Luffy attempts to run away and save himself, eagerly abandoning his screeching comrades, but doesn’t get far because Luffy leaps at him and trips him up with a sharp blow to the back. “Doesn’t feel so good now, does it!?”

Once the hunters look beaten up enough, Sabo finally relents, shuffling towards Luffy, poking his snout against the kid’s body as if to check for injuries, wings flapping in distress.

“I’m fine, Sab’, it’s just a few scratches,” the teen winces with a strained smile and laughs at the flat look that the dragon rewards him with. “I finally understand how Ace reads your expressions.”

The dragonborn curls a protective tail around Luffy’s bruised frame, the fire eating away at its victims slowly hissing out. A few hunters are undeniably dead, flesh charred to coal. It reeks so Luffy presses a hand to his nose to ward off the scent. “We should wait for Ace,” the teen offers, uncertain. “Knowing him, he’ll be back by sunset.  In the meantime, no one should miss them.”

Sabo overlooks the chaos one last time and ushers Luffy back into the hidden cave.

* * *

 

Upon entering the village, Ace can tell that in his absence something’s gone terribly wrong.

The people out in the streets shout about gathering men, taking the nearest weapons and contacting more dragon slayers. Ace can make out the handful of people in charge, bronze-colored armor fancier than those of mere villagers who look equal parts terrified, confused and enraged.

“We’ve lived in peace for decades,” one of the local drunks riles up the masses trickling into the main street. “And we’re not about to experience the same hell all over again,” approving murmurs sweep over the people, various tools held in their hands. Tools meant to deal serious damage. Ace knits his eyebrows in confusion – are they being attacked?

The drunken man keeps on rambling about the importance of honor and freedom and Ace wants him to hurry the hell up already, staying low just in case. Dragon slayers in their village? So soon? Not good.

The spokesman roars “find the dragon and that Monkey brat” and before the thunderous applause can cease, Ace dashes straight into the tree line of the woods.

* * *

 

Mangled bodies litter the dusty forest floor by Sabo’s cave and Ace yells into it, hoping to catch either Luffy’s or Sabo’s attention.

“Ace, what – “ Luffy’s shaky voice asks from the darkness and Ace wastes no time in grabbing him by the lapels of the jacket, slamming the kid into the stone wall. Luffy lets out a wince at the rough treatment, dark eyes wide.

“What the hell did you do!?” Ace inquires in a panicked voice, wild gaze roaming the younger’s shadowed face, trying to gauge his stiff expression and the remains of guilt that’d betray him, explain the situation to Ace without any words needed. However, there’s nothing there that could indicate Luffy’s faults. The boy stares at Ace in confusion, breathing noisily.

It’s almost as though he isn’t the one of the two who’s beaten black and blue. “Who are those people!? Why is the _entire village_ after your head?” Ace presses on, nervous.

“After – _what!?_ How would I know!?” Luffy yells back, peeling Ace’s prying fingers away. “And those were hunters. Hawke’s betrayed us – he’s been following us around for a long time now. He wanted me to tell him Sabo’s location and hand him over to the dragon slayers. Sabo burned them alive – if he hadn’t, right now I’d be dead,” Ace shudders at that, “They told me that no one knew where they were headed.”

“Well, apparently they fucking lied because either someone made it out of this mess alive or they’d warned the villagers beforehand,” Ace finds that he’s slowly losing air – the situation has taken a turn for the worst. “They’re coming here and they’re pissed. If they take the hounds, they’ll be here in ten minutes, Luffy.”

“Wha – “ the teen balks, lower lip quivering. Ace can see it even in the darkness of the cave. The sun has set no more than a few minutes ago. Luffy sucks in a shuddering breath to calm down but Ace squeezes at his shoulders again, shivering as well, tension levels skyrocketing.

He can hear the wind caught inside the multiple underground tunnels, heavy steps – Sabo’s standing somewhere nearby with his neck outstretched, trying to pick up on any suspicious sounds coming from the surface. So far, nothing but bird calls disturb the otherwise peaceful night. They all know that it won’t last for long, that this is the calm before the storm – soon, the mob armed in pitchforks and torches will approach their cave. The hounds will sniff them out even in the dark.

“You need to leave. Get away as far as possible.” Ace steels his voice to something authoritative, trying his best to fight off the cold wave of panic gripping at his chest, squeezing mercilessly. “Sabo will take you somewhere safe.”

“What about you!?” Luffy gapes, blindly seeking out his wrists and gripping the tight. His palms are clammy.

“I’m staying behind, obviously. I’ll try to clean up your messes so that you can return here one day,” Ace says resolutely.

Luffy shoves him off then, making the older teen stumble backwards and nearly trip over a stray rock. “Are you out of your mind!? You’re saying that we should leave you to face off a bloodthirsty crowd!? And run away without you?” the kid yells, voice echoing in the enclosed space.

“Exactly.”

“No,” Luffy shakes his head, “Absolutely not. They’ll kill you!”

“It’ll buy you time,” Ace dismisses. He knows what he’s risking. He also knows that Luffy’s undeniably right – chances of him getting out of this mess unscathed are highly unlikely. But if he at least tries then maybe his efforts will be rewarded.  “Please, Lu. There’s no time for us to argue about this. Take Sabo and go, I beg of you. Listen to me for once!” Ace pleads, stiffening once he hears howling in the distance. The mob’s on the move already, led by dragon slayers of all the people, without a doubt equipped with the weaponry necessary to kill Sabo. The more time they waste stalling, the less chance there is of Sabo and Luffy surviving tonight – Ace’s deadeye accuracy alone will not be enough to stop a barrage of arrows aimed at Sabo’s dragon form, ceaselessly raining down on him and Luffy, shooting them out of the sky mid-flight. If it comes down to the worst case scenario, he’s going to try and take out the frontlines by himself, leave the people in disarray, leaderless. Possibly unconvinced to continue this wild goose chase – they’re not strong enough to go against a fucking _dragon_ with pitchforks and knives and they _know_ it. 

“I’m not leaving my brother behind,” Luffy heatedly fights back even after Ace throws him over his shoulder like a potato sack, wriggling and kicking, scratching and screaming. The throbbing bruises don’t let the younger kid move around as efficiently as he normally would so Ace finds manhandling Luffy quite easy.

“You can’t stay in the cave either, idiot. It’s not that hard to find and with those hounds? No matter where you hide, they’ll sniff you out. Your best bet is to seek refuge elsewhere, wait this out,” Ace sets him down on the grass and the teens freeze when they hear another howl in the distance, this one closer to the goal. “How could you let yourself get tracked, how come I haven’t noticed it before?” the freckled boy winces, casting a sour look at the unmoving, charred bodies of the hunters. His silver eyes lack the sympathy. “You were in mortal peril while I was taking my sweet time riding back home. I’m not much of an older brother,” he trails off, frowning. If Sabo hadn’t been there, right now he and Luffy wouldn’t be talking. His brother’s cold corpse would be hanging off a sturdy branch, swaying in the wind and that’s where Ace ceases thinking altogether, getting sick at the mental visual, bile rising up his throat.

“Now’s not the time for this, Ace,” Luffy shivers when he spots a flash of torchlight in the distance, instinctively hiding behind Ace and grasping at the hood of his maroon riding cloak. Ace remains frozen to the spot, steel-colored eyes following the flickering light. Even in the dark, Luffy notices the muscle fluttering in Ace’s tightly set jaw. The man wielding the torch yells “we must proceed onwards in this direction, lads!” Luffy sharply tugs on Ace’s hood even further, this time more insistent. “Ace, we have to go, don’t be stupid!”

There’s fear apparent in Luffy’s voice and the wild fighting spirit packed in that tiny body of his gradually dissipates, replaced by unease.

“Ace, please,” he begs but the older boy only pushes Luffy further behind himself, taking off his bow and drawing two arrows from the quiver fastened on his back. They’re almost in range, if only there weren’t so many trees in the way…

“It’s a bit too late for that, Luffy,” Ace says calmly as he can and raises the weapon, bowstring tensing. “They’ve dragon slayers in the group. They’ll shoot you right out of air if I don’t take them out first. They’ll chase you down on horseback if you don’t take flight.” Luffy lets out a strangled wince at the older teen’s grim prognosis but does nothing to leave him behind. If he doesn’t move, Ace will have to make him. One of the dragon slayers emerges in the clearing, giving Ace a clean, straight trajectory to work with. The man’s carrying a black spear with him and Ace knows that he’s packing arrows as well – dragonite. If they get within range, Sabo and Luffy are toast.

“Take him away,” Ace throws over his shoulder where he knows that Sabo is, completely silent and observing the exchange between the two brothers, his humans. “I won’t ask again,” the freckled teen adds, fixes his posture and releases the taut bowstring.

The arrow noiselessly whizzes into the distance and the dragon slayer collapses on the ground, dead – the arrow is neatly lodged in the center of his throat.

All hell breaks loose when the man’s torch rolls onto the ground, alerting the people following him. Luffy launches himself at Ace but the older throws him off, loading more arrows. “Please, Ace, let’s go,” there are tears of desperation shining in the kid’s brown eyes, Ace knows. Doesn’t have to see to know. “We can still make it somehow, you don’t have to stay behind to stall them.”

Ace grits his teeth and kills three more people, secretly hoping that they weren’t anyone he knows. He already feels like hell for staining his hands in the blood of the innocents – innocents who want to see his little brother and the dragonborn dead. He holds onto those poisonous thoughts to steel his resolve – he’s only doing this to protect Luffy and Sabo, no more. In Ace’s eyes, his family members are the innocent ones and the bloodthirsty mob is the enemy.

If he wavers here, they will not make it.

“Ahead!” one of the dragon slayers yells to his companion and they speed up, tearing through the shrubbery to get to the offender enshrouded in the shadows cast by the trees, still somehow managing to take out men.

Luffy scrambles up to throw himself at his focused brother a second time, but Sabo gets in the way by throwing the struggling kid on top of his back, constantly shifting his huge wings to make Luffy stay in place. He keeps trying to slip off, yelling at Ace to get on but the pleas fall on deaf ears.

“It’s fine as long as I know you two are safe,” Ace tells them with a sad smile, the shouts getting closer by the second. He’s running out of arrows, every one counts. “I don’t need to live forever, I’m not scared. Just gotta make it through today. I’ll catch up somehow,” he lies, looking up at Sabo’s hesitant form and the dragonborn catches that fierce look in Ace’s silver eyes, sees no hesitance, no fear only a dimmed kind of sadness, and with a piercing cry, the dragon takes off into the night, Luffy’s loud sobbing fading with every flap of Sabo’s wings.

The mob halts, startled murmurs sweeping over the relatively quiet forest, fingers pointing up into the sky. Someone takes aim and Ace shoots the bow out of their hands.

“Your real enemy is right here!” he yells on top of his lungs to distract the dragon slayer and it seems to work.

The fire dots start moving in the direction of the cave once more.

* * *

 

“Put me down, Sabo,” Luffy begs in a hoarse voice, hitting a fist against the dragonborn’s back to catch his attention. “I need to be there with him! Set me down on the ground and fly away from here so they can never find you again.”

And it’s not like he’d ever be able to live with himself if he did just that.

Sabo’s heart bleeds and aches for his beloved humans and his mind screams at him to do something, to help Ace out, but if he is to get within the slayers’ range, he’ll be putting himself, and more importantly, Luffy, in unspeakable danger. One well-placed arrow could kill them both but the thought of Ace bravely and kind of idiotically sacrificing himself for the sake of creating a diversion necessary for their grand escape doesn’t sit too well with Sabo.

He’s a fucking dragonborn.

He could take on an entire village, make it erupt into hellfire.

Songs and stories were written about his kin, completely lost to the new generation for no one wanted to talk about or reminiscence the plaguing terrors of dragons. Dragonite was discovered decades ago, and so, Sabo was no more than a big fly to the dragon slayers swarming the forests below. They could shoot him out of the sky before he could even get close to Ace who was currently fighting back like a cornered animal, waiting for his inevitable demise. Surely, that boy will never be pardoned. Not after killing off at least a handful of people in an attempt to aid his criminal brothers.

“Don’t leave him behind, Sabo!” Luffy screams and there’s _something_ in the raw desperation permeating his young voice that tugs on Sabo’s heartstrings too hard to keep on going.

If Ace can sacrifice himself for their sake, then so can he.

* * *

 

Ace ducks out of the way of a sure-kill arrow when the field before him erupts in azure flames. People scream and spread out, panicking every step of the way and dropping their torches for the sake of diving for cover, some straight up hightailing out of the forest completely. Sabo’s screeching and howling echoes in his ears, deafening Ace momentarily, and he sees black arrows pierce through the azure, aimed at the dragon currently destroying the fields. Ace yells out a strangled “NO!” when they hit Sabo’s neck and chest but the dragonborn ignores the pain, flapping his huge wings and frying the remaining dragon slayers with another spherical fireball.

Sabo lands in front of him and Ace collapses on his jelly-like knees, the shock finally catching up with him, body shaking. The dragonborn’s huge wings fold on top of Luffy to shield him away from all and any incoming arrows. Ace sees at least two of them protruding from Sabo’s wings, broken.

He almost _died._ He _almost_ fucking died and while he didn’t have any regrets, met their countless enemies without any lingering fear, the concept of it still manages to make Ace physically ill.

“Get on,” Luffy screams at him through the blurry haze left behind by the post-brush with death, loud voice carrying over even louder noise, and Ace, currently weaponless and scared out of his mind, finally lets go of his “tough warrior” front. He eagerly grasps Luffy’s offered hand and then lets himself get pulled on top of Sabo’s tense back. 

“Go, go, go!” Luffy commands. With a lot of effort, they manage to take off, leaving behind carnage and blue, roaring fire.

There’s a quivering arrow lodged in Luffy’s left bicep but Ace says nothing about it, only bites at his lower lip hard enough to draw blood.

He almost died. But he is safe now.

The price for their freedom, though… he isn’t sure how to pay it.

* * *

 

Sabo doesn’t carry them for long, fatigue and dull pain finally catching up with him, adrenaline subsiding. An hour later, the dragonborn spots a tall mountain in the distance and messily lands there, jostling around his humans. Luffy lets out a pained sound when the arrowhead moves around too much, tearing open his muscles even further.

Ace is completely unharmed save for a few scratches on his face – the arrows were hard to escape but his reflexes have been trained to near perfection.

The moment Ace gets off, he stomps into the distance, stumbling over the shingle and the uneven surface of the jagged mountain to get away from his family and he yells into his palms for what seems hours, pacing in circles like a caged animal, fingers twisting in his lengthy strands to the point it gets painful to watch. Luffy drags himself to the nearest niche in the mountainside, a hand pressed over his injured bicep – they’ve nothing on them to clean the nasty wound with, not to mention wrap it up.

Sabo tiredly tears out the black arrows lodged in his wings, the cuts generously oozing gore. It’s a bit weird since his enhanced healing abilities should’ve healed up the holes of this caliber, but the dragonite poisoning continues cancelling out his curse’s effect – those spots are now undeniably human. Sabo hopes that he won’t bleed out completely by dawn and drops on his less injured side, eyelids heavy and breathing ragged. The pain worsens by the second but he makes no move to inform his humans of that little detail. They don’t need extra worries to be added to the pile – their current situation’s already bad enough.

“We have nothing!” Ace looks seconds away from bursting into hysterical laughter followed by loud sobbing. “No home, no place to return to. No money, no food, no water. You know what we do have? Injuries,” Ace gestures at Luffy’s bleeding bicep and the kid shoots a mean look his brother’s way at that. “Are you stupid!? We could’ve avoided this.”

“I’d take being injured over losing family any day,” Luffy mumbles darkly, fingers poking around the arrowhead, reluctant to pull it out – they won’t be able to staunch the bleeding.

Ace makes a desperate sound in the back of his throat, “We’re going to lose each other in the next few days if we do nothing about your wounds. It would’ve been better if I was to die alone without dragging you down with me.”

“How can you say that to us!?” Luffy stands up, face twisted up and red with surfacing anger. “Just how selfish are you, Ace? Do you honestly believe that Sabo and I could’ve simply brushed your death like it was nothing and then carried on without you?”

“Yes!” Ace yells back, just as fiercely. “At least my sacrifice would’ve kept you safe and sound. What does it matter what happens to me? I’d _die_ for you in a blink of an eye.”

Luffy stares at him with wide, hurt-filled eyes and before Ace can carry on with the self-hatred-fueled rant, Luffy throws back his right fist and decks his older brother, panting heatedly and ignoring the throb of his skinned knuckles.

Gingerly, Ace probes at the rapidly reddening spot. “Did you just hit me?” there’s no emotion in his voice.

Luffy huffs like a stubborn bull, sets his back straight, glaring daggers at the older one. “Damn right I did! Do you even hear yourself!? Cut the bullshit, Ace, if you really wanted to die you wouldn’t have let yourself get saved. You fucking deserve this and way more. Instead of moaning about our situation, do something to help out Sabo. I’m going!” the kid then moves towards the exit, the arrow still awkwardly sticking out of his arm. Luffy doesn’t seem to be paying it attention and he snaps the arrow’s body in half, body twitching at the sting of sharp pain. He throws the snapped off bit aside.

“Where to!? Luffy, you don’t know this area, it’s dangerous at night and you’re – “ Ace begins in a panicked tone, taking a few rushed steps in the young boy’s direction, fear gnawing at him once again, but the kid ignores him and exits the niche, small shoulders squared.

“I dunno! Somewhere away from you!”

_“Luffy!”_

The aforementioned boy disappears into the night, the shuffling of the tiny rocks under his feet vaguely indicating his position. He’s quickly retreating from their shelter, slipping down the steep mountainside.

“Luffy, I –“ Ace starts, stumbling towards the exit himself – he cannot risk them getting separated, not when they’re in this state, not when they just lost their homes – but Sabo’s long tail unfolds to block his path.

Sabo wags its spiky end, a _“leave him be for now”_ of sorts, and follows up the action with a low, strangely wet gurgling noise. His clouded dark eyes are reassuring so Ace shuffles closer to the dragon’s body and lets Sabo wrap his thick tail around him, keeping Ace pressed into his side tighter than usual – just in case the older teen feels the random urge to chase after Luffy again. It’s pretty clear that the younger boy is undeniably hurt by Ace’s words, but so is Sabo – it’s terrible, seeing Ace discarding himself away like that. But at the same time he kind of understands how the older boy must feel about their current situation as well, how hopeless and desperate it is – in the end, Sabo cannot blame either of them.

“I’m mad,” Ace tells him without any fire to it, curled hands resting on Sabo’s blue tail. It twitches weakly; an indicator that the dragonborn is listening to his woes. “I’m mad that you disobeyed me and saved me, putting yourselves in danger for me. But at the same time I’m so, so fucking happy that you did and I feel even worse. I shouldn’t be happy in the slightest – we just lost our homes,” Ace runs a shaky hand through his hair. “And look at you– arrows everywhere. What are we going to do, Sabo? We can’t return and we have nowhere else to go. If Luffy tears out that arrowhead, chances of him getting an infection are…” he stops himself from finishing that thought in particular, head hanging low, teeth bared, grit tight. You should’ve flied away when you had the chance- ow,” Ace winces after the dragonborn tugs on his hair rather painfully to make Ace stop rambling – right now, they shouldn’t be fighting.

“Lu’s right,” the freckled teen sighs dejectedly and his fingers hover over the arrow lodged into Sabo’s peach-hued side. There’s no blood coming from this wound but Ace can tell that it hurts the dragonborn – he took at least seven arrows while diving in to rescue Ace’s ungrateful ass. “If I were stuck in his position, I would’ve reacted the same way.”

Sabo shifts to curl around him even tighter, head placed on clawed paws, eyes closing. His breathing is turning shallow, ragged, and at this point the pain is blinding, radiating from the arrowheads buried in his body and seeping into his being like poison.

Dimly, Sabo thinks that perhaps dragonite in itself is _poison_ , consciousness slipping further away.

“What are we going to do,” Ace repeats and gets up, looking worn down, aged beyond his years. “How will we make by?”

Sabo doesn’t answer to him so Ace halts and turns back to face the dragonborn, his midnight-blue eyes closed shut.

The worst part is that he doesn’t seem to be breathing.

“Sabo?” Ace calls out quietly, palm moving to check the dragon’s breathing. It’s still there but it looks like it’s about to fade at any second. “Sabo, can you hear me?” the freckled teen sinks to his knees, pulling the dragon’s pliant head into his lap. There’s no response, not a single twitch of muscle, and the other appears to be very much dead or at least dying. Panic seeps into Ace’s being for the nth time that night as he carefully peels at the eyelid of the dragon’s uninjured eye, checking for responses.

The slit pupils don’t react to the faint moonlight and Ace feels dread coil around his stomach at that as he runs his hands over the dragon’s soft-scaled snout. “No,” he whispers, shivering. No matter how much he tries to raise his voice, it refuses to obey, “No, no, no, no, no, you can’t die on us! You just saved me and Luffy, you _cannot_ die on us, Sabo!” the more garbled sentences he chokes out, the louder Ace gets, reality setting in with every disbelieving word.

The midnight-blue dragon remains still as ever, unresponsive.

Ace yells for Luffy to come back but the kid doesn’t seem to be within range and the tension filling his body finally snaps.

“You can’t,” Ace heaves as his vision blurs for the second time that night and he leans over Sabo’s snout, stroking over the gold-tipped scales. “Don’t leave us, please. Don’t leave your brothers behind, Sabo,” he rasps, suddenly feeling low on oxygen. Ace feels his head spin with it, the stone walls tilting dangerously and closing in around them and he cries for the first time in years because he cannot be strong anymore. He’d promised to himself to stop sobbing on the day Luffy got severely injured, comatose for a week. It was his duty as a big brother – he had to protect his siblings without showing any weakness. He has to look unbreakable and reliable at all times.

Oh god, he failed them. He failed them both.

Luffy hates him and Sabo –

“We love you so much, Sabo,” Ace mumbles through the hot, salty tears in his mouth and the harsh sobs rattling his hunched over frame. “We love you and we’ll figure something out. It’ll be just the three of us, alright? Just don’t leave us.”

Sabo’s _dying from dragonite poisoning._

“I’m selfish like that, so don’t leave _me_ ,” he begs one last time, forehead pressed into the motionless dragonborn’s.

The moment that sentence escapes his mouth, Ace feels himself get repelled from the dragon’s lifeless form. The white light that starts emitting from Sabo’s body nearly blinds so Ace instinctively moves his forearm to shield his eyes, mouth agape – what the hell’s going on?

Faintly, he hears Luffy’s voice outside calling out to them but Ace cannot bear to look away, pushed further and further from the glowing dragonborn. The living light pulsates and buzzes with a bizarre energy and it almost feels like magic, like being cast into a serious storm – the strong gust of wind that appears from nowhere in particular is so harsh that it nearly slices at Ace’s skin, riding clothes.

“Stay back!” he warns his younger brother just in case but his voice is absorbed by the overpowering sound of static.

The blinding light flickers a few more times before fading out into nothing but ember-like dust. It looks like the snow and Ace finally risks fully opening his eyes, taking in the sight of countless swarming lights dancing around in the niche. Subconsciously, the teen likens them to the fireflies from that fateful night when he tried to break Sabo’s curse. That sentence makes him subconsciously stiffen up, something click. Ace lowers his arm, cautious.

“What…?“ Ace starts and holds himself up on shaky elbows, eyes scanning the niche bathed in artificial firefly light. It takes a while for his eyes to readjust so Ace heatedly blinks to get rid of the bright blue spots springing up in his field of vision, focusing on the pale blur in front of him.

The pale blur quickly gains lines and features, all in the shape of a human man with long limbs and a curtain of fair hair, staring at his hands in amazement. Ace doesn’t dare to breathe as he watches the naked boy check himself for injuries that aren’t there. Broken black arrows litter the shingle of the niche and the blond stranger opens his pale mouth, voice deep and raspy when he recites, “Only after your son’s loved one sheds tears of sorrow over his twisted fate, he’ll revert back to his original form.”

Ace gapes, heartbeat thundering in his ears. The blond smiles delicately, wiggling those long thin fingers before himself as though he cannot quite believe that this is truly happening. He huffs an incredulous laugh and finally lifts his head, scarred face flushed with happiness and dark blue eyes misted over with unshed tears, “A…ce…” Sabo calls out weakly, shivering from the cold and sheer disbelief. Immediately, Ace launches himself across the niche, nearly strangling himself in his haste to take off the cloak, throwing it over the unfamiliar blond’s wide shoulders, tugging the hood to rest over curly, golden hair. Ace curls his fingers in its hem, drinking in Sabo’s human features – the kid looks painfully disoriented and nothing like what Ace expected him to look like.

The blond is so goddamn _beautiful_ that Ace is having a hard time trying to look away.

“I can’t believe this,” Ace stutters out after the third attempt at articulating in human language, a grin splitting his face. “It’s you. It’s really _you_.”

Sabo rewards him with another shaky smile, chilly fingers wrapping around Ace’s tanned wrists – they both gasp at the skin-to-skin contact. “Thank you,” Sabo forces out as a tear rolls down his scarred cheek and he eagerly throws himself at Ace, hugging him tight enough to make his ribcage creak in protest. Sabo hugs as though his life depends on it.

As though everything’s going to fade away if he doesn’t hold on.

“I’m not dead, am I? This is really happening?” Sabo mutters into Ace’s tear-stained shoulder, uncertain of right about anything.

“Unless that flash killed us both, which I doubt it did. I broke the curse, Sabo,” Ace runs his hand over the blond’s soft hair, nuzzling into a cloaked shoulder. The dragonborn is thin against him but no in an alarming way. It doesn’t matter much to Ace regardless, right now he’s content with cradling the other to his chest, afraid that this might turn out to be some fever dream.

“You did,” Sabo agrees and clears his throat, still unused to speaking. “Thank you,” he repeats, scratching the back of his savior’s neck, making him shudder – it’s still too surreal; the gentle touch, the curse, the flashing lights. _Sabo._ They’re here and they’re both painfully human. This is real, it’s actually happening. Ace can hold him like this and Sabo can hold him back. He can finally respond to him.

“Sab’…” Ace murmurs when Sabo affectionately nuzzles into the side of his face, dragonborn instincts still kicking strong. Ace turns his head a little, nose brushing over a pale cheek, but then Luffy finally trips back into the niche and the blond shoves Ace’s head aside, arms spread wide. The young kid beams and eagerly takes him up on the hug offer, sending them toppling over to the pointy shingle.

“Shh, Luffy, don’t cry,” Sabo soothes, despite a fresh wave of tears rolling down his wet cheeks as well.

“They’re happy tears!” Luffy explains himself in earnest, wiping away the mixture of snot and moisture away from his flushed face, “You’re finally free, Sabo!”

“I am,” the blond smiles, catching a straying droplet with his thumb and they share a joyous laugh, hugging once more.

“But you’re not a badass dragon anymore,” Luffy mumbles into Sabo’s neck, supposedly upset. “How am I supposed to fly into epic battles?”

“Do piggybacks work?”

“I have Ace for that and he isn’t all that great!” Luffy grins, shooting Ace a teasing look. The freckled teen, who’s been fondly watching the exchange all the while, exaggeratedly rolls his eyes at the younger boy’s statement.

“I’ll have to see for myself,” Sabo rasps with an awkward wink that still somehow manages to make Ace a little hot under the collar. “But I agree with you, he doesn’t seem all that impressive,” Sabo laughs at Ace’s expression and the latter tackles both of them into the ground, mindful of Luffy’s still very real and very apparent injury. Sabo’s human body is uninjured; the fatal blows have faded away along with his scales and his dragon form.

“You’re actually a shithead, aren’t you?” Ace asks Sabo, feels those spindly fingers stroke over his sides.

“I grew up with two,” the blond laughs heartily. “Learned from the best.”

Luffy mutters something ineligible into Sabo’s naked shoulder and Ace’s silver eyes widen when he notices the dragonborn craning his neck to kiss the corner of Ace’s mouth. “For that one time,” Sabo explains himself, that wide and happy smile never leaving his lips. As if charmed by some magic, Ace ducks his head a second time, chasing after the feeling of the soft press.

He’s about to plant a new one on Sabo’s lips when Luffy exclaims _“gross!”_ and throws back his head, scalp catching Ace’s sharp chin rather painfully. “Are you seriously smooching with me sandwiched between you!? Save it for the marriage.”

“I may not be a prince but I am the son of a duke. Is that up to your standard?” Sabo whispers to Ace who only pushes at the former’s grinning face, flushed.

“I’m absolutely not marrying a lizard breath!” Ace says embarrassedly while Luffy bursts out laughing. “Mr. Lizard!”

“I don’t have a lizard breath, do I, Lu?” Sabo faux-worries.  Luffy energetically shakes his head no – Sabo supposedly smells like dirt and nature. “See? It’s fine,” he tells Ace, who only rolls away from the duo and flicks the cackling blond’s forehead.

“It’s okay,” Luffy presses his healthier cheek into Sabo’s jutting out collarbones and closes his eyes, sighing softly. “You don’t have to marry each other. We still love you, Sabo.”

The blond runs his fingers through Luffy’s thick, coal-black strands, soothing the teen. “I know,” he says, his other hand finding Ace’s squeezing in reassurance. Ace’s thumb draws small circles over Sabo’s skin. _He feels the same way._ “And I love you too,” Sabo nods, taking in a deep, liberating breath.

They’ll figure it out somehow. They always have. He already has some ideas as to where they could head afterwards.

For now, though, Sabo’s going to enjoy the body contact with his favorite humans.

“I’ll marry you if you want,” Ace promises Sabo once Luffy is dozing off on top of him, radiating heat and warding off the chilly gusts of wind filtering through the niche. “I don’t care if you’re a prince or the son of some duke. I care about you. So much,” Ace says quietly and there’s a longing in his voice but he doesn’t dare to move closer, settling for twining their fingers even tighter.

“But do you love me enough to do this?” Sabo asks and thinks that he’ll never get tired of hearing this – that he’s needed, that he’s wanted. Loved. God knows he hasn’t heard these words before, not from anyone who isn’t Ace or Luffy. “Until death do us part and all that?”

“Of course,” Ace mutters. “I’m your curse breaker. I want to take up this responsibility.”

“In that case, I don’t see any reasons why I should refuse,” Sabo hums and blindly seeks Ace out, pressing their cheeks together. “Love you.”

“Me too,” Ace answers a few minutes later, his voice drowsy. They crash, huddled in a pile of twined, warm, _human_ limbs.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> local kid tries to take on an entire village, fails supremely  
> but hey - a fairy tale ending for a sorta-fairy tale story!

**Author's Note:**

> typed out between breaks.  
> ace u fucking scaley what the fuck  
> http://yaboybokuto.tumblr.com/post/167122471113/dwagon-doodles-for-the-curse-breaker


End file.
